For lovers of fiction.

Thoughts On

And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles.

*spoilers, of course*

For starters can I say I love Doctor Who. Nine was my first doctor, but I truly fell in love with Ten, and Eleven comes pretty close. As for classic Who I’ve moved around a lot, but I’ve seen all the Doctors in action.

With the new series starting today I decided to state my opinions on the matter, because they’ve really changed over the past year.

Instantly I fell in love. Nine was so good to restart the series. He had the weight of the Time War on him, but still put up a good facade to think nothing was wrong at first.

And why shouldn’t you fall in love with this show? The main character is an alien that can travel all throughout time and space (except New York in the 1930’s to save Amy and Rory…) We get an array of aliens, planets, and wild stories. The possibilities really are endless.

The Doctor always has an (attractive) companion at his side. This has been a bit of criticism of the show. It’s not that the women aren’t written well, but they are always within age to have the (possibility) of a romantic relationship with him. Of course it’s not always the case, but you do have to wonder why not get a guy in there? Or a younger girl?

Speaking of gender…we all know the Doctors have been male. I’ve always spoken up for the show, saying, “Well that’s how he was born. His appearance is going to change, but he’ll always be physically male.” That is until The Master switched up genders this past season. To speak so highly of Avatar: the Last Airbender, they use reincarnation, but it isn’t that different from regeneration. The Avatar can be male or female.

Maybe one day we’ll see a female Doctor.

Each Doctor has his own personality and Ten is at the top amongst favorites (next to Four.) Personally, Ten is mine as well. David Tennant is such a good actor and loved the character he played and it showed. When I finally reached his end point I didn’t think I could move onto Matt Smith.

But somehow he managed to get my attention. Ten and Nine were fun, but still pretty serious when need-be. Matt Smith being younger added a younger vibe. He was playful and childish (not in a bad way.) He’s my parents favorite (not that they’ve seen many other episodes without him.) Him, Amy, and Rory were one hell of a team and when they left (to me) that’s when the show started to change.

I know Clara gets a lot of hate and some of it is really uncalled for, but the way her character was written ruined it for me. First, I don’t understand her “Impossible Girl” title at all. I mean I get it, she jumped into the Doctor’s timeline and shows up every now and then, but how did she survive this and still remain the original Clara? Well the Doctor jumped in after her!

HOW? How did he manage to get in there, grab her, and find a way out? I thought he said he couldn’t go in himself or the whole thing would collapse. How do the scattered parts of Clara know when to show up?

Why is Moffat still there?

Ah yes my next topic: Moffat.

I have a complicated relationship with Moffat. I love the Sherlock series, I think it’s well written and he shines during this show, but with Doctor Who, the writing has just gone down hill. I liked the first two seasons with Eleven, I liked most of the stories, but then it started to change. I could barely get what was going on, a character said something about someone but what happened was redundant with what they said.

Clara herself wasn’t written well. Different versions showed up and I didn’t know who was supposed to be the original one. She just wasn’t as interesting as the companions before her. Maybe her new boyfriend could add something, but Danny wasn’t that great either. Trying to maintain a normal life with the traveling one never seems to end well. Like many people have said, there have been more remarks on appearance than the actual character.

Then Peter Capaldi became the Doctor and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t care he was older and he’s a well-known Doctor Who lover, so of course he would do the role justice.

Now I don’t hate him. I like having an older Doctor, but I feel like we’re missing the playful side of the Doctor. He doesn’t have to be playful in the Matt Smith kind of way or even David Tennant, but give us more than, should I say, barely caring. That’s how I saw it at times.

Going back to the actual stories I doubt he had a lot to work off.

To be honest I didn’t pay much attention to the last series. I watched all the episodes, but damn there weren’t any that stood out to me. The Christmas episode I didn’t bother with and I don’t plan on watching this season either. There’s something missing, some kind of charisma or charm that left with Matt Smith.

Seeing that Clara will be leaving after this season could help or hurt the show. A lot of people want her to go but I think there’s a bigger problem here. Maybe another hiatus will do the show good. Peter Capaldi could always come back, but take time off to get back to the show everyone loved.

Or maybe reevaluate the writer….(seriously, we need to see a new writer.)

I miss what it was. I miss loving (almost) every episode and the twists and even the darker side of the Doctor that could come out at times, but it doesn’t have to be there all of the time.

“I’m the Doctor and I save people,” is my sister and I’s favorite line…(I don’t like this line at all.)

What will come of this season? Will adding a Game of Thrones alum give some extra viewers?

You have to give it credit. It’s still on the air after 50 years and people still want to watch it. The hype leading up to a certain episode or season is pretty big (I mean there are viewing parties/preshows.) You can’t say the show isn’t popular anymore, but the views have gone down. Who knows maybe this season will be the best ever, psht, (sorry, I laughed while writing that.)

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2 thoughts on “Thoughts On”

I agree a lot with you on this. Both Clara and Twelfth have really suffered due to poor writing and development. It was like that to some extend with Eleventh and Amy too, but the chemistry of the actors managed to save it. Matt Smith had the toughest job ploughing through bad scripts with his immense personal charm and development of character. No credit to writers for that one. Peter Capaldi is a beyond excellent actor, but he hasn’t been able to do the same. I think his portrayal would suffer if he did that childish/boyish thing tenth and eleventh do. We need Russell T. Davies to write him a good, character-driven script, so that the audience can finally see what this Doctor is about, and not keep wishing Capaldi dropped character and became Malcolm Tucker instead to make it more entertaining.
I really feel bad for the Clara character. I hope she gets a good finale, because it was only a one-note, smarty-pants type of character. I don’t think Amy Pond had much going on for her either, but her personal relationships made up for it.
I think there have been some great male companions. Obviously, Captain Jack and Micky/Ricky, but the two episodes with James Corden and Eleventh were amazing! It would certainly be great to have Peter Capaldi bantering with a younger male companion.